Let Her Play? Transgender Golfer Sues LPGA Over Eligibility Rules

Here’s a provocative question: Should the LPGA, the organization that regulates professional golf for women, be allowed to require that competitors be “female at birth”?

A transgender woman thinks not. Lana Lawless, a 57-year-old retired police officer who had gender reassignment surgery in 2005, has suit in San Francisco federal court on Tuesday, arguing that the requirement violates California civil rights law. Click here for the NYT article; here for the AP article.

According to the NYT article, Lawless made her name as an athlete in 2008 after winning the women’s world championship in long-drive golf with a 254-yard drive into a headwind. But this year, Lawless was ruled ineligible because Long Drivers of America changed its rules to match the policy of the LPGA. The LPGA subsequently turned down her application to play in qualifying tournaments.